A roundup of online political cartoons reflecting headlines from August 15 to September 1. Click any image to launch the slideshow view.
-
- The junxun (军训), China’s nationwide compulsory military training for high school and university students, attracted public scrutiny after a brawl broke out between students and military officers during a session at a Hunan high school. In this cartoon, Japanese soldiers look on from a barren but contested rock in the East China Sea as PLA officers battle students and an instructor on the mainland. (Meng Chenshang 梦晨伤)
-
- While the junxun incident led some web users to express anger towards widespread corruption in the military, others thought that students’ disobedience was the issue on display. This cartoon from Rebel Pepper shows state media construing their version of the Hunan brawl. The dogs on the bottom are labeled Global Times (left) and Screwing People Post (right). (Rebel Pepper 变态辣椒)
-
- Rebel Pepper also offered an illustrated comment on Zhongnanhai’s announcement that the universal suffrage promised to Hong Kong for the 2017 election of chief executive would require all candidates to be approved by a Beijing-aligned committee. “One Country, Two Systems” (一国两制) is the constitutional principle that has overseen Hong Kong since its reunification with the mainland. In the illustration, a tank bursts through the Chinese character for “2” (两), making it more resemble the Indo-Arabic numeral “1”. HK residents expressed alarm after Chinese armored vehicles were seen traveling in Kowloon following Beijing’s announcement last weekend. (Rebel Pepper 变态辣椒)
-
- Cartoonist Rebel Pepper himself became the subject of recent headlines. After publishing a cartoon mocking pro-Beijing protesters in Hong Kong, state media launched a smear campaign that drew attention to sympathetic social media comments the cartoonist had made about his time in Japan—the campaign began on a People’s Daily BBS, where a user labeled the outspoken cartoonist a “traitor.” Currently in Japan, Pepper told Radio Free Asia that he feared detention upon returning to mainland China. In the cartoon above, one of many shackled minions calls the unchained Pepper a “traitor.” (Chengtao 成涛漫画）
-
- Also in the news last week were the most recent exploits of notoriously attention-hungry self-labeled philanthropist Chen Guangbiao. This time, Chen hopped on board the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Actually, he decided to one-up the many thousands of participants worldwide by submerging himself in a bucket of ice water for more than 30 minutes, and offering to donate 1 million yuan for anyone who could beat his time at the same task. On social media, many users thought that Chen had faked it. (Dashixiong 大尸凶）
